Protestants in England and Wales were executed under legislation that punished anyone judged guilty of heresy against the Roman Catholic faith. Although the standard penalty for those convicted of treason in England at the time was execution by being hanged, drawn and quartered, this legislation adopted the punishment of burning the condemned. At least 300 people were recognised as martyred over the five years of Mary I's reign by contemporary sources.

An important year in the English Reformation was 1547, when Protestantism became a new force under the child-king Edward VI, England's first Protestant ruler. Edward died at age 15 in 1553 leaving the throne to Lady Jane Grey, who held it for nine days before Edward's Catholic half-sister Mary deposed her and assumed the crown, as was stipulated by Henry VIII in his Third Succession Act but revoked by Edward VI.[188]:p62

The relationship between the Church of England and Rome was restored under Mary in 1553. She went on to reign for five years (1553–1558) until her death. Protestants opposed Mary's actions. Many people were exiled, and hundreds of dissenters were burned at the stake, earning her the nickname "Bloody Mary".[189] The number of people executed for their faith during the persecutions is thought to be at least 287.[190]

After the accession of Queen Mary I to the English throne in 1553, and her repeal of all religious legislation passed under Edward VI, Protestants faced a choice: exile, reconciliation/conversion, or punishment.[191]:p.186 Mary had some 284 Protestants burned at the stake (including 56 women). Thirty others died in prison.[48]:p.79 While the so-called "Marian Persecutions" began with four clergymen,[191]:p.196 relics of Edwardian England’s Protestantism, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs offers an account of the executions, which branched well beyond the anticipated targets – high-level clergy. Tradesmen were also burned, as well as married men and women, sometimes in unison, "youths" and at least one couple was burned alive with their daughter.[191]:p.196

However bloody the end, the trials of Protestant heretics were judicial affairs, presided by Bishops (most notably Bishop Bonner) adhering to a strict legal protocol under the privy council, with Parliament's blessing.[191]:p.195 Because of her controversial accession, Mary had difficulty forming an efficient Privy Council, which eventually numbered over 40 and never worked as a source of political advice, though it effectively pursued police work and enforcement of religious uniformity.[188]:p62-65 During the session that restored the realm to "papal obedience" parliament reinstated the heresy laws.[191]:p.196 From 20 January 1555, England could legally punish those judged guilty of heresy against the Catholic faith.[48]:p.91

Thus it became a matter of establishing the guilt or innocence of an accused heretic in open court – a process which the lay authorities employed to reclaim "straying sheep" and to set a precedent for authentic Catholic teaching.[48]:p.102 If found guilty, the accused were first excommunicated, then handed over to the secular authorities for execution.[48]:p.102 The official records of the trials are limited to formal accusations, sentences, and so forth; the documents to which historians look for context and detail are those written by the accused or their supporters.[48]:p.102

Before Mary's ascent to the throne, John Foxe, one of the few clerics of his day who was against the burning of even obstinate heretics, had approached John Rogers to intervene on behalf of Joan of Kent, a female Anabaptist who was sentenced to burning in 1550.[191]:p.193 Rogers, a Protestant preacher and royal chaplain, refused to help, as he supported the burning of heretics. Rogers claimed that the method of execution was "sufficiently mild" for a crime as grave as heresy.[48]:p.87 Later, after Mary I came to power and converted England to Catholicism, John Rogers spoke quite vehemently against the new order and was burnt as a heretic.[48]:p.97

Throughout the course of the persecutions, Foxe lists 312 individuals who were burnt or hanged for their faith, or died or sickened in prison. Lists of these names are available here[n 41] and here.[n 42] Three of these people are commemorated with a gothic memorial in Oxford, England but there are many other memorials across England.[192] They are known locally as the "Marian Martyrs".

^'Foxe has a terse report in the Rerum of an old man of Buckingham- shire being executed in 1531 for eating pork during Lent (Rerum, p. 126). Foxe's source for this episode is unknown; Bale does not mention this old man in any of his works. Perhaps Laurence Humphrey, who was Foxe's friend, a native of Buckinghamshire, and who was with Foxe in Basel, was the source for this story. In any case, the Rerum account was translated word-for-word in the 1563 edition. The story was dropped from all subsequent editions, possibly because Foxe grew unsure of this individual's existence or at least of his ability to prove it.' Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Critical Apparatus

^Foxe describes him as being 'mad and beside his right senses ... and destitute of sense and reason'. The Critical Apparatus to Foxe's Book of Martyrs lists a number of unorthodox beliefs which he held.

^Foxe describes him as being 'mad ... ravished of his wits ... beside his wits'.

^The 1563 edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs records that William Dighel was burned at about the same time as Nicholas Sheterden. However, this information is not repeated in subsequent editions of Foxe's work. "Was his omission in subsequent editions due to an accident in the print shop or did Foxe come to doubt his information on Dighel?"

^'The Regester' states that a person called 'Milwright' was burnt along with Harland, Oswald, Reed and Avington. However, this person is not mentioned in Foxe's Book of Martyrs, although he does appear in

^May be an error for Edward Horne, burnt at Newent, Gloucestershire in September 1558. Foxe states that a woman was burnt with Horne. However, the Critical Apparatus quotes a letter from Foxe's papers stating that 'Edward Horne's wife was condemned with him but she recanted and her life was spared'

^ abwhich refers to 'two at Asheforde'. A number of Kentish people of Ashford Area are recorded as having been burnt 16 January 1556 at Ashford, Kent in Ashford Borough Council – Parks and Open Spaces. However, at this time the civil or legal year in England began on 25 March, so the date now known as 16 January 1557 would then have been recorded as 16 January 1556.

^That list does not include John Wade, the three members of the Dangerfield family or the three who died in Chichester Castle – numbers 7 and 19 to 24 in the list of prisoners above. It appears to conflate Thomas Ravensdale and the shoemaker who was burnt with him – numbers 158 and 160 in the list of prisoners above. In other words, eight people appear above, but not in that list. On the other hand, numbers 212 and 213 in that list (two people burned in Suffolk on 18 June 1557) do not seem to appear elsewhere, and are not shown above. As a result, there are six fewer names in that list of 312 people than the totals above of those executed (284) and those who sickened or died in prison (34) – a grand total of 318.

^That list does not include the following eight people mentioned above – (34) Margery Polley, (49) Roger Hues, (154) Rose Pencell, (175) William Carman, (212) George Egles – as he was hanged, drawn and quartered, as opposed to being burnt, (225) Robert Stevenson, (227) the woman at Rochester, (243) ... Lawton. On the other hand, that list duplicates (38) Richard Hook, (127) Thomas Milles/John Milles (128) Thomas Moor and (209) Mary Groves/Christian Grover. It counts (147) Perotine Massey's infant son separately. It includes John Warner and Thomas Athoth who are shown above as 'Also mentioned by Foxe'. It includes a woman said to have been burnt with (164) John Horne of Wotton-under-Edge. In other words, eight people appear in that list but not above. As a result, that list contains the same number of people as the list of martyrs above – 284.